


Solace

by PryingAa



Category: NEO - Fandom, Neo (Book), Neo (Series), Neo Series - Mark Lupin, Neo: Blackout, Neo: Blackout - Mark Lupin, Neo: Trouble Brewing, Neo: Trouble Brewing - Mark Lupin
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Slow Burn, mainly just cybista though :), some Marper, some Roston
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:34:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28373214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PryingAa/pseuds/PryingAa
Summary: Cybil Lane has never needed anyone, and even if she did, there's no way in hell she would ever admit it. Following the tumultuous last couple of weeks at the 87th Cybil finds herself struggling to keep up with her new "normal." Batista, recently exonerated, is still grieving the loss of her fiance Rocky. The cracks in her armor shine through at the moments she needs to be the strongest. Some wounds never heal, but together they find peace in the crumbling world around them.
Relationships: Cybista





	Solace

Cybil collapsed on the gym floor for what felt like the hundredth time that morning with a dull thud. Her yell of frustration reverberated off of the cement walls, and she scrambled to grab the bars and pick herself up again, but damn she was just so tired. She looked up to see Dr. Griffin taking a step towards her, trying to help her up, but Cybil shrugged it off, instead taking a moment to stretch while she was on the ground.

"Let's stop here for today if that's alright... same time next week Cybil?" Dr. Griffin moved one of the blonde waves out of her face and peered down at Cybil.

"Yeah, fine, whatever," Cybil grumbled, mostly incoherent.

Dr. Griffin made a few notes on her tablet and then said goodbye before stepping out of the physical training center.

Cybil huffed, still trying to catch her breath, and tried to get to her feet again. She heard the sound of boots clicking against the floor before she spotted Batista Rossi approaching from the bleachers behind her. Batista bent down and pulled Cybil up with one smooth motion, and all Cybil could notice was the deep red color of her nails as her hand enveloped Cybil's. She also snuck a look at the new cybernetic arm on Batista's other side as it glinted in the dim light of the gym.

"When are you going to stop coming to these fucking things?" Cybil whined as she stood up completely.

Batista flashed her a dazzling smile and looked down at their joined hands, "I'll stop coming once you're better of course darling."

Cybil chuckled bitterly and walked back over to the bleachers to grab her bag, "Gonna be waiting an awfully long time then."

She turned to find Batista much closer to her than she expected, and it made a lump form in her throat, so she focused instead on the bracer on her arm, she had a text from Harper she had yet to bother answering. 

Batista smiled again and met Cybil's eyes, melting her with the depths of her own brown ones. "Doesn't bother me a bit... wanna get lunch, detective?"

Cybil shifted, trying to force herself to break the spell and look away. "I... I'd love to, but I've got a briefing in a couple hours."

Batista looked dismayed for a moment, but then her smile returned, and her glossy black hair swayed as she moved towards the door, "No worries, I'll see you at your next appointment, or maybe a little sooner..." and then she moved quickly through the doorway leaving Cybil in the empty gym.

Cybil began to protest and realized it would be pointless, she didn't even know how Batista had managed to get her physical therapy schedule in the first place. Mob ties, she thought bitterly, except they weren't just mob ties, Batista was the full-on boss now, whether she wanted to be or not. After the dust had settled and Rocky's case was closed, it became apparent that the code still stood, Batista and Rocky had been engaged, which was as good as law. She had no choice but to take over the throne, to avoid chaos reigning down across the entire city and amongst the godless in it's entirety. It also meant every underboss and lackey in the entire god damn town was gunning for her. There had never been a bigger target on someone's head in human history, and everyone in the criminal underbelly of town could smell weakness. Batista had to play her cards right and make all the right moves now, which is why Cybil just could not understand why Batista kept coming around. Thinking of her safety, however, made Cybil's chest constrict and she could feel the modded ticker in her chest going fucking nuts. She tried to put the idea of Batista in any sort of danger out of her mind, and she moved to the door Batista had just left out of. 

* * *

Back at the precinct, Cybil found that her day dragged on and on, twenty minutes worth of paperwork felt like an eternity of purgatory. By the time she had finished her first stack of paper, she was ready to snap. The cubicles were quiet, as everyone in the entire station was most likely out working their cases or just driving around looking for trouble they'd never find. Cybil couldn't stand staying in, but her doctor mandated she stay on desk-duty for 3 months following her near-death experience with Percy. At first, she had understood, she was bedridden for a long while trying to recover from the worst of her injuries, but that was nearly a month ago. She longed to be free from her desk and hit the streets with 9B again, now that he was back in action too. 

Just then, before she could return to the monotonous stack of papers, she heard the sliding door in the lobby skid open, and she heard muffled voices coming closer. Murphy, Vega, and Burke rounded the corner, laughing hysterically at some sort of joke Cybil had missed. She stood, with her arms crossed, staring daggers at Murphy. He swallowed thickly when he saw her and walked briskly over to his desk, adjacent to hers, and smiled hopefully at her.

"Hey, Cibby, we w-" Murphy began, but Cybil leaned forward menacingly and gave him a shove.

"Enough with the nicknames Greene." Cybil spit.

"But Harper gets to-" Murphy tried again.

Cybil slammed her hand down on his desk, ignoring the lancing pain that shot up to her elbow. Fuck, she felt like she was falling apart.

Murphy cut off whatever he was saying and sighed in obvious defeat. Cybil turned to see Vega and Burke watching with mild amusement. Yeah, everything was getting back to normal.

"It's been a minute, Cybil, are they letting you play detective today, or are you still a desk jockey?" Burke said wiggling his eyebrows.

Cybil rolled her eyes, what a prick, she thought. 

"No yeah totally, I get to hang out with you chucklefucks all afternoon, I'm _thrilled_." Cybil said, and she took her binder with her as she left the room, but not before she 'accidentally' stepped on Burke's foot on the way out. 

When she made her way into the conference room the Sarge was the only other person in there, Cybil wasn't used to being this early, but maybe it would help her chances of getting back out into the field sooner. That's all she could hope for, it felt like cabin fever was setting in. She tried to find her seat easily, not giving away how she still had a slight limp. She took out her tablet and began flicking through all of her tech magazines, not really reading any of them.

The Captain merely continued going through his files, getting everything prepared for the briefing. They fell into a comfortable silence, almost like old times. As more detectives started to pile in he looked up and made idle conversation with a couple of them, and he glanced over at Cybil periodically, but she pretended not to notice.

Before long it was nearing 3 o'clock and all the detectives and a couple of everyday officers had crowded into the room. The Captain waited for everyone to calm down and then he turned on the holoprojector. He covered some basics, like overall precinct performance, which made Cybil snort. It just seemed absurd to her to celebrate how many speeding tickets and noise complaints they had written this month. About halfway through is when she realized Murphy was sitting two seats away, taking notes like the dork he is. She zoned back in to listening to the Captain and realized he had begun talking about the newest case.

They had reason to suspect a CFO or senior executive from Harrison Tessol had been embezzling and possibly garnering wages from associates in order to fill his own grubby pockets. Just listening to it made Cybil sick, she bit the inside of her cheek and continued listening. There was a whistleblower, somebody who had been handling the money and noticed all the pay discrepancies. The Captain mentioned that the money is being laundered and filtered through some nefarious groups, like the new gang that had started cropping up in the wake of Rocky's death. That got Cybil's mind going, she wondered if she could use any of her connections with the Godless to figure out who might be good at washing a lot of money like that. 

She snapped out of her internal detective sleuthing long enough to hear Captain Graves mention her name. He was peering down at her from his desk, and pointing to the boards with the photos of all the people on the board of directors at HT. The entire room of detectives seemed to deflate, and they glanced over at her, definitely jealous that she was being picked for this case since the Captain had obviously already made his decision. 

After the meeting was called to a close Cybil waited behind to speak with the Captain further, making sure he really intended for her to get back out there.


End file.
